


Day #8: Illuminate

by Accal1a



Series: December Nickels Insanity [8]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux, Sidewinder Series - Abigail Roux, Warrior's Cross - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Boys In Love, Cryptic Messages, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-02 17:30:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16791490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/pseuds/Accal1a
Summary: Nick and Cam bond over how ridiculous their partners are (and how much they love them).





	Day #8: Illuminate

Nick still maintained that the road trip was a good idea. He and Kelly needed to get away from it all, there had been far too much stress recently and being out of range of anything going down in a big city, or Marines randomly turning up in the middle of the forest was perfect.

Except now they were on Day 4 and Kelly was being shifty and he couldn't work out why.

Kelly would often stop at completely random tourist traps which clearly held no interest to him, only to wonder around for 10 minutes, look at something that Nick couldn't seem to see himself and then get back in the car and say they could be on their way.

When Kelly burst out laughing staring at a panel of wood around the back of a gas station in Mississippi, Nick lost it.

“What the _hell_ are you doing?”

Kelly just gave Nick a lopsided grin and got back in the car.

~~~

It went like that for several more states and Nick had gone past frustrated and in to downright confused. He couldn't fathom what his partner was doing at all. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why Kelly stopped when he did; what he stopped to look at; or the random items that he sometimes left at the stops. Nick knew that he was a smart man, and he had been a cop, he should be able to root out clues...but he was completely stumped.

 **Nick → Ty:** Is Kelly on some kind of scavenger hunt that I'm not privy to?  
**Ty → Nick:** What?  
**Nick → Ty:** Never mind.

Another few hours of driving had them stopping in what looked like the middle of a field, the only landmark in the entire area a rusted, broken down car that Kelly stared at for a long time before slapping himself in the forehead and then chuckling.

Nick had stopped asking what was happening, instead content to go along for the ride. Anything that made Kelly this happy was something he couldn't be mad about. He was on a road trip with his favourite person in the world, sleeping in random motel rooms; but being able to hold him every night was a level of perfection he never thought he'd get to have.

 **Nick → Owen:** Do you know what Kelly's up to?  
**Owen → Nick:** I am definitely NOT the person to ask about this.  
**Nick → Owen:** THIS ISN'T A SEX THING!

Kelly bought a hideous ornament of a cow in some podunk town in a state that Nick couldn't remember. It was horrific, possibly demonic, and _definitely_ not coming on to the boat. As it was, he didn't have to worry because it was hidden in a flower pot in a garden centre in a town that seemed to have only six houses; so why they needed a garden centre at all was beyond him. And how anyone other than Kelly, hell even _Kelly_ could find that tiny cow again was anyone's guess...anyone but one of the smartest men he knew.

He pulled his phone from his pocket, scowling at it for a second before he thumbed it open and started to type.

 **Nick → Zane:** This is your fault isn't it?  
**Zane → Nick:** You're going to have to be more specific...  
**Nick → Zane:** I'm putting you on notice, Garrett.

Eventually Nick started to get really desperate.

 **Nick → Digger:** I need to ask you something.  
**Digger → Nick:** I DIDN'T DO IT.  
**Nick → Digger:** Actually yeah, never mind.

“Do you want to start heading back home?” Nick asked one day out of the blue. He'd been thinking about it for two days and it was making his chest hurt, but they couldn't hide away forever, especially as at some point they'd need to organise their next trip with Emma.

“One more stop!” Kelly begged and Nick smiled, letting his fiancée get back into the drivers seat again, both figuratively and literally.

~~~

Nick wasn't sure when it had happened, but he'd now gone so far past confused he didn't have a name for the emotion he was feeling.

Kelly was halfway up the side of a derelict structure, hanging over open space and scratching symbols into the metal beam he was near.

Nick had been whispering 'Please don't die' under his breath for at least 10 minutes before he opened his phone again in a last ditch attempt to work out what this was. He only had one more person he could text, and it was highly unlikely that the contact would bear fruit, but he was desperate.

 **Nick → Cameron:** Do you have any idea why Kelly is hanging off a beam in the middle of nowhere?  
**Cameron → Nick:** Just leave them to it, they're having fun.

Cameron had immediately responded, so quickly that Nick spun around to see whether his friends...colleagues...people he knew...were nearby. He couldn't see anyone, but then Julian was a master at subterfuge.

Nick swiped his phone so that he could make a call instead.

“ _What_?” He said, absence of any greeting and probably sounding every bit as confused and exasperated as he was feeling.

“Julian is practically giddy.” Cameron's voice came across the speaker. 

Nick heard an indignant sound which sounded deceptively like a squeak. If Nick hadn't known Julian could kill him in seven different ways without breaking a sweat, it might be endearing. 

He looked over to see his lover, now hanging upside down, his legs slung over that same beam with his shirt flopping down almost over his face. The tattoos he often traced with his lips and fingers prominent against his skin.

“Sorry, what?” Nick replied, realising he had entirely zoned out from the call watching Kelly.

“I said, 'is Kelly enjoying himself too'?” Cam repeated, the smile evident in his voice.

“Immensely.” Nick replied, finding a grin on his own lips too.

They disconnected the call after another minute and Nick was putting his phone back in his pocket when it beeped again.

He looked down at it to see a new WhatsApp message. It was a notification to tell him that a new group had been created. When he saw what Cam had named it, he laughed out a sharp bark of laughter which made Kelly jump and nearly fall off.

“What the hell, Nicko?!” He shouted across the pavement.

“Nothing!” Nick replied.

'Idiot Boys' was a _great_ name for the chat.

**Author's Note:**

> Come and visit the [Cut & Run Discord Server](https://discord.gg/vvy6c76) and join us as we discuss/scream about this awesome series.


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